Twisted Reality
by ScribblinScribe
Summary: Come on now, and take a walk, but not too far.   Or you'll get lost, and forget who you really are.


My name is Valerie McClain. I am 19 years old and have recently recovered from a complete mental breakdown. I feel that I have recovered from the tragedies leading to this incident and that I have recovered from this incident and there fore should be released from B.A. Fraud's Institute for the Mentally Impaired and Insane. To prove just how well recovered I am, I will henceforth list details proceeding the start of my mental decline all the way through to my eventual recovery.

It all started on a Thursday; which is rather unusual because most major and tragic events start on Mondays, Friday's or Holidays, but it was none of these and the tragedies had not yet started. The first tragedy was so minor that I didn't even notice…

"Sorry the game's been cancelled." Our coach told us when we had arrived at school with our uniforms on and equipment ready. I was one of eight Color Guardians and we had all arrived for a homecoming game at our school to find that it had been cancelled for some unknown reason. It would later be discovered that the entire football team had gotten food poisoning from eating a really bad fruitcake that had been left over from a previous year. No one has yet to figure out why they ate it in the first place or why it was there.

Most of guard was excited for the game's cancellation, but I was not. I didn't want to go to the dance that was happening in a few hours because I didn't have anything to wear and even though the other people on guard, Jenny, Kayla, Kelly, Nicole, Sarah, Mathew and Melody, would probably have let me go with them it would have been awkward for me because they all were planning on going later on with their significant other anyway. I would have been a spare wheel to a car that already has 14 wheels. So instead I thanked them and said I should really catch up on homework and went home. Shuffling my feet, wishing that I had made plans to go with out another friend or that I had recorded a good movie that I could watch when I got home, I sighed and stared at the sidewalk.

The apartment my mom and I shared was a second level two bedroom, one and a half bath place. Which was fine considering it was just my mom and I that lived there. Well, that is if you don't count our two cats and one dog.

The key went into the lock without much hassle and turned swiftly unlocking the door. I pushed on the door and it opened; I looked around for my mom and Hope, our dog, but could not find either of them. I went into the kitchen and pulled a Diet Coke from the fridge only to spy a note set on the counter under a pair of sunglasses.

I opened the drink and let the fizz run down my hand as I walked towards the note. Even though I was not yet at the note I could already tell that it was my mother's hand-writing.

_**Dear Val,**_

_**Hey! I took Hope and went over to Midge's. I'm going to spend the weekend there. You don't mind, right? Tomorrow you only have one class in the morning so you can clean up a bit when you get home, 'kay? Love you! See you when you get home on Monday.**_

_**Love**_

_**Mom**_

I crumpled the note up and wanted to throw it, burn it and tear it apart at the same time. She was always doing that to me. Taking off and leaving nothing but a note. I threw the note in the trash figuring that what I wanted to do to the note would not change anything or make me feel any better. So instead I went to my room and change into jeans and a tee shirt before going back to the living room and lying on the couch. My two cats, Cat and Attila, came over and sat nearby. Not near enough so that I could catch them but near enough to know that I was there.

I'm not sure when exactly I fell asleep but I do recall that when I woke up, at least in a sense, I was outside in a field of green yet dying grass. I looked around neither my cats nor my home were anywhere nearby and I was in place where I had never been and it was dark and I was not alone. Yet, I was not scared. I felt peaceful as I stared into the darkness of the night. It wasn't until I started to move towards the beaten path that any emotion arose in my head. Once I reached the path's crossways there were two ways in which to go. I looked right and left and then back.

"If I go back," I wondered," would I find another way? Or just end up getting lost?" I looked back to the right and about ten feet into the trail was Cat. I took a step towards him and he turned and slowly started to walk away. I started off to follow him when I heard a small meow from behind me to see Attila. He was sitting on the other side of the trail I stepped towards him and he like Cat started to walk away. I looked back at Cat and then at Attila. It was clear I would have to catch one before going to the other. I turned to see Cat disappear in the distance and started to follow after Attila. Cat had always been wiser and, though he was not brave, he always could provide food for himself; whilst Attila was not as bright or as resourceful.

Whenever I tried to walk faster so would he, if I slowed down so would he, if I ran so would he so I figured it was best to follow him until he stopped.

Which he did in front of a large cream-colored house with a front yard as big as the apartment that I lived in. I picked him up and was about to back along the path when I turned to realize the path was gone. I was now in a neighborhood of homes, lights off and all were for sale except the one I was standing in front of. I slowly walked to the door scared to see who would open it and yet curious as to where I was. I raised my hand to knock and froze just as I was about to hit the door.

"Should I?" I wondered before I had a chance to knock on the door, it opened to a girl maybe seven or eight years old in a dirt and soot covered dress and a huge smile.

"Come in!" I remember her saying, so happy to see me it was as if she had known me for ages and I was now returning home from a long trip. Without hesitation I walked into this stranger's home and sat my cat down as the door shut behind me.

"Come on, come on! He's been waiting!" The little girl sang dragging me through empty rooms to a dark hallway with many doors.

"Who? Who's waiting?" She didn't respond she just pushed me through one of the doors that led to a longer hallway of doors.

"Choose the right door and you will find out."

"Wait! My cat!" I turn to see both of my cats sitting next to her obediently.

"Don't worry. I will take them home." I had no time to protest as the door swung shut. I turned to face the hallway and walked to the first door on the right. No matter how hard I tried I could not get the door to open. So I crossed the hallway and tried again, but once more the door would not open. I went from door to door trying to get at least one to open, but none would. At the end of the hall there were two doors. The left one was large and white with a brass knob and floral hinges, the other only went three feet higher than the floor and had old chipping black paint with a round grey knob.

I tried the white one first assuming the smaller one to be just a weird joke but not an actual door. It didn't budge. I kneeled to the floor to open the other door and as I reached for the handle I saw the knob turn and the door opened and as it did I must have shrunk because when the door was fully opened and the man inside was noticeable the door stood at least ten feet in height.

The man in front of me, who I only assumed to be a man based on his height and broad shoulders, was a black mysterious figure.

"Name yourself." He had a stern voice but it sounded more from need than actual birth.

"Vanessa...who are you?" I said this while I scrambled to get back on my feet.

"None of your business!" He shouted making me stumble back. I was rather scared of him. Which I assume to only be normal after all the weird twists and turns I had been going through. Once I had gotten up I got a better look at this mysterious figure. He did not look to much older than me but he did look like he had been through a lot more than I had. In fact it looked like he had fallen from the highest point to the lowest only to fall again.

"Oh...okay then...I have to go the little girl said someone was waiting for me so...I should be on my way." I don't remember what the exact words were at this particular time in my tale but I do remember the clear expression of shock on his face when I said it.

"You're her?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Her!" I decided at this I was not getting anywhere with him and attempted to slip by him knowing the other doors to be locked, but my attempt was met by failure.


End file.
